TVSquad

(S06E08) You know, as a solitary episode, "Koi Pond" was incredibly satisfying from beginning to end. Outside the office, you had Andy and Pam making cold calls, while back at the office you had the aftermath of a different sales call Jim and Michael had gone on.

It was the perfect blend of everything that makes The Office work, when it's on its game. There were plenty of laughs, great lines and little moments for everyone in the office. We got some developments on the dramatic side, and most important of all -- an incredibly awkward moment with Michael Scott.

As for Jim, he's really struggling with aspects of his new position, and it's adding a whole new dimension to his character. He's always been a little insecure about his leadership ability, but now we're seeing that he's about as ineffective in controlling the Scranton branch as Michael ever was, thus realizing many of his worst fears.

(S06E03) Your regular host, the esteemed Joel Keller, is off hiking the Appalachian Trail this week, so he asked me to cover for him. He should be back in time for the nuptials of Pam and Jim next week. But before we could get to that, David Wallace decided to throw new co-manager Jim a major curveball fresh into his new job.

I'm with Joel on the David Wallace situation. Is he really as clueless about how things are at the Scranton branch? My experience with executives is that ... well, he probably is. In fact, on the one hand, I'll say it's a smart move to make Jim and Michael co-managers. Wallace knows the branch brings in solid sales figures, but he also knows what a loose cannon Michael is.

Maybe the thought was that Jim could reign him in and bring a semblance of sanity to the office. If tonight's challenge is any indication, it's not gonna happen.

(S05E05) [Jay couldn't be here tonight, as he's off being Jay Black somewhere.] Tonight's theme seemed to be about relationship crossroads. We had three storylines interweaving, and all of them centered on the three major hook-ups on the show. Dwight decided that the only way to come to terms with how he felt about Andy and Angela's impending nuptials was to goad Andy into a pointless feud. Michael and Holly had to deal with the fallout of David Wallace discovering that they'd become romantically involved (the hint is in the episode title), and Pam had to have quite possibly the most awkward lunch in history with Jim's brothers.

As always, The Office manages to weave slapstick humor brilliantly with moments of raw emotion and pathos. Particularly, again, with a wonderful performance by Steve Carell. With most of the action centering on the major storylines, we didn't get much work out of the supporting cast, so it was at least good to see them having some costume fun in the cold open. Don't forget the rest of the cast, writers, we love them all!

Here's an interesting little tidbit from 30 Rock star/producer/writer Tina Fey: NBC boss Ben Silverman was the inspiration for four characters on the show.

It's one of the many subjects covered in this long Fortune profile of the controversial TV exec. Fey doesn't say who all of the characters are or how they are based on Silverman, except in one case. She explains that evil TV executive Devin Banks (played by Will Arnett) is the one that's based on Silverman the most.

This has got to be the best backhanded compliment since Mike Myers said that Dr. Evil was based on Lorne Michaels.

Ah, summertime. The heat, the haze, the traffic, the lack of The Office; what's not to hate? Luckily, the brilliant folks behind The Office have been busy figuring out ways to tide us over until the fall. Starting Thursday, July 10, NBC.com will be airing Office webisodes. For those of you who like your Dunder Mifflin-ites live, Mindy Kaling (Kelly) will be hosting the Office Games in Scranton on Saturday, July 19.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to participate in a conference call with Mindy Kaling and Brian Baumgartner (Kevin) as they discussed the webisodes, Office Games, friendly competition and the status of a few MIA Dunder Mifflin employees.

What would Ryan do? B.J. Novak, who plays Ryan on The Office, is also a writer for the show. So, will he show up for work today? He belongs to competing unions: The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) has stipulated that actors must show up for work. However, as a member of the Writers Guild of America (WGA), he could be fined by his union if he crosses the picket line.

I'm talking about the American version of the show. I'll put the answer to this question on the second page, but it's actually pretty easy to figure out. Just remember that The Grass Roots was a band in the 1960s and 70s (that leaves out 98% of the cast right there, they're too young) and that it was all male (that leaves out Pam and Angela, even if they were old enough). I think you've probably figured out who it is by now, but that doesn't make the video after the jump any less amusing.

He's the one on the left in the striped sweater.

Some fans of NBC's The Office have refused to believe that what happened in the season ender actually happened. They think that other fans are misinterpreting the last scene, that Ryan wasn't actually promoted at Dunder-Mifflin. But now there's official proof that he got the job.

DunderMifflinPaper.com has the official press release about Ryan's promotion. His new title is Vice President of Regional Sales, and he will be based out of New York City.

A while back, I showcased some blogs that celebrities were (at the time) keeping. David Duchovny had one for a while, but it was just to promote one of his movies and he stopped it. Zach Braff had one for Garden State, but doesn't update it as much as he used to at his new site (though it's still pretty entertaining). And of course we know that Rosie O'Donnell updates hers, a little too much probably.

But there are other TV celebs who blog too, so it's time for an update. After the jump, a list of some of the better blogs out there.

I recently posted news that producers of NBC's The Office were seriously thinking about extending the show to an hour every week next season. Some of you loved that idea and some of you hated it. Well, looks like we have a compromise.

According to Kristin over at E! Online, the show will have four, one-hour specials next season, as well as 24 episodes total. That's really good news, in this new age where many "full seasons" of shows often don't even hit 22 episodes. I was watching some old comedies on DVD the other day and noted that they often had 25 or 30 episodes a season back then.

Speaking of one hour, The Office one-hour season finale airs next Thursday at 8.

Ah, the people of the internets are endlessly clever. In the tradition of recut trailers such as Brokeback To The Future comes The Office...if it was a crime thriller instead of a Must-See comedy.

My favorite parts: the slow motion shot of Jim in the rear view mirror, Dwight and Ryan out in the empty field, and Kevin saying "My God, what have I done?" They should have ended it with Dwight saying "you're dead" though, instead of the gunshot.

I guess TV shows and movies can look like anything you want them to be. It's all in the editing. I want to see The Wire done as a wacky sitcom.

What does it take to be a thinking woman's sex symbol? The definition really comes from what it doesn't take. You don't need to be conventionally handsome. You don't need a full head of shiny hair or photo-ready pearly whites. You don't need six-pack abs or hardened pecs. You certainly don't need a hot car or a fat wallet. What you do need is smarts and a wit best described as "acerbic."

Now, this whole "the five" thing is pretty rough. Only five slots for television's sexiest smarty-pants doesn't make things easy. There was no room for Steve Coogan, Charlie Rose, Bradley Whitford, Naveen Andrews or David Duchovny. So, the order here is arbitrary, and well, let's just preface this list by saying that we're talking about television stars here. This means that even the nerdiest of nerds is a far cry from dogsville, but these five all have one thing in common - they've got it going on upstairs.

I would have to say "yes."

Now, there are differences, of course, between the two shows, but I think in terms of the writing, the cast (the entire cast), and the watercooler buzz factor that has been building, I would say that The Office is the closest thing to Seinfeld that we have on the air right now.

As Verne Gay at Newsday says, it's not nearly Seinfeld in terms of ratings. In fact, there's a danger that it will become what another critically-acclaimed comedy became:

"In even blunter terms, is The Office the next Seinfeld or the next Arrested Development, yet another joyous, original, brilliant, and yes, ignored TV comedy? This may be one of the most important questions in TV entertainment at the moment ..."

I think it's safer than AD, if only because NBC isn't FOX, and they understand buzz and have stronger shows to surround it to keep it afloat.

[via TV Tattle]

The wife and I were watching The Office last evening and we saw one of NBC's "The More You Know" PSA's.  It featured Mindy Kaling (Kelly from The Office) talking about something or other, but it sounded sort of confusing (more than usual on those 10 second announcements) and the phone number they usually show at the top left- or right-hand corner of the screen really didn't make sense. I just tossed it aside and waited to watch ER.

Turns out, it was all a fake! Kaling, as well as Rainn Wilson (Dwight), John Krasinski (Jim), Jenna Fischer (Pam) and B.J. Novak (Ryan) recorded a whole mess of fake PSA's for the April Fool's holiday.  Some of the subjects they cover in the spots are Beer (walk away from a $9 brew) Lipstick (use two shades for maximum cuteness) and Cake (don't smush it in the bride's face because it just messes up her makeup).

There are sixteen PSA's in total and they are done with the seriousness on the normal ones that appear during the network's shows.  They can all be seen at the show's website.

NBC credits The Office's higher ratings with the show's availability on iTunes. While the number of downloads of The Office do not figure into weekly ratings, the number people watching The Office has increased since the show became available for download. This is pretty big news, because all the networks have been banking on some sort of ratings boost by making their shows available on the internet. At first, it seemed like a gamble that people would try out new shows online and then start watching them, but it seems to have worked. The Office has been huge for NBC on iTunes. It accounts for one-third of all NBC downloads (there are currently 12 NBC shows for sale on iTunes). The people who are downloading shows off the internet are exactly the audience that all the networks are fighting for: the 18-49 demographic.

ABC reports the same bump in ratings for Lost and Desperate Housewives, since they launched on iTunes way back in October. Lost ratings have jumped 14% and DH ratings went up 7%.

[Via Digg]